This article written by Birgitta Öhman and Gunnar Alván discussed the
initiative by Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden to create a regional drug
information centre in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in 1974. Its aim
was to provide vetted drug information on patient related drug problems to
doctors and community physicians. The centre answers questions immediately if
they are urgent, and otherwise uses the assistance of a database or original
articles if they are available. The majority of questions involve adverse
effects of medicines. A senior clinical pharmacologist approves all answers if
a junior doctor or pharmacist is the respondent. In 1984 the centre created
Drugline, a database that records all previous inquiries and answers for later
reference. The article also includes a detailed example of the answer process,
which includes a Drugline search, follow-up with the practitioner, additional
database search, and a discussion of the answer at the centre’s weekly
meeting. The network of drug information centres is sponsored by the National
Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies, and at the time of the article was hoping to
expand across Europe. The article concludes by stating that new communication
technology would need to be utilized to advance the expansion of the
network.